Couple killed in apartment fire remembered as ‘best friends,’ active community members

Surinderjit Kaur Bhandal and Major Singh Bhandal (Credit: Lali Toor)

The grandson of a couple killed in an apartment fire earlier this week says he wants them to be remembered for the way they lived their lives.

“I want them to be remembered as individuals that would always help anyone in need. If you ever saw them, you would never see one without the other,” Lali Toor told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday.

“I want them to be remembered as best friends.”

Major Singh Bhandal, 85, and his wife Surinderjit Kaur Bhandal, 82, died after a vehicle hit the back of their apartment building at 132 Avenue and 82 Street on Tuesday evening.

The vehicle hit a gas line, causing an explosion and fire.

Six other residents of the building were taken to hospital.

An investigation is still underway into why the driver crashed into the apartment building.

Toor says he started heading for the area as soon as he heard about the fire.

“I took a right turn on 132 and came right to the scene, and it’s been devastating. My mom was here till 3 a.m. I was just holding her as tightly as possible.”

Toor says his grandparents came to Canada more than two decades ago when his mother married his father.

“They settled here and chose Edmonton as their home to be closer to their daughter,” he said.

The Bhandals were active members of the community, according to Toor.

“He was an active member at the gurdwara here on St. Albert Trail, Sikh Society. Whenever anybody needed help, whether that be emotional, physical, monetarily, he’d always be the first one to just put a hand out and just be able to help anyone.”

He says his grandmother was well educated and enjoyed discussions about family and politics.

They enjoyed spending time with their grandchildren, and ultimately their great grandchildren.

“They leave behind my mother, five grandchildren, including myself, and three great-grandchildren,” Toor said.

“To have them so close by, near family, near their great grandchildren, it meant the world to them.”

Even in their 80s, Toor says his grandparents were fiercely independent.

“You’d always see my grandfather driving around, even at the age of 85, he’d be driving wherever my grandmother needed to go.

“They would still find a way to help one another out.”

The Bhandals were married 64 years. Toor says the memory of their love will live on.

“They never left each other’s sides. They were best friends for life, and that’s what I think we should all learn is that there is a definition of love, and hopefully that is them, because that’s what they embodied.

“It’s just such a tragedy that they had to go away. But they both left at the same time, and that’s very fitting for a couple that stood the test of time.”

While the loss of his grandparents has been hard, Toor says he’s grateful to the Sikh community and Edmontonians who have reached out since the fire.

“I just want to thank everybody with just how many endless messages we’ve had of love and support. It’s really a blessing to be honest to have that much support, not only from our immediate family, the Sikh community, but the entire Edmonton community.”

Funerals will be held for the Bhandals next week.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Noah Rishaug